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The first Rocky movie

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The first Rocky movie
Posted by aegrotatio on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 9:00 AM
I was watching the first Rocky movie and in most of the scenes in Rocky's Philadelphia apartment and outside working as a collector we hear steam engine noises in the background. Were there really steam engines in service in the mid-1970s in Philadelphia?
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Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 9:34 AM

I always thought that was a factory whistle. If I remember correctly there is a shot of a Conrail switcher engine in one of the shots. Of course I could be confusing that with one of the other seventeen Rocky movies.

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Posted by henry6 on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 9:46 AM

Factory whistle...maybe...Steam locomotive: NO!

 

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Posted by bubbajustin on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 12:38 PM

Steam excrsions maybe... 

Hmm

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Posted by Ishmael on Saturday, September 1, 2012 7:16 PM

It's also  possible that the sound was dubbed in at the studio. For a technician who didn't know much about railroads, the steam whistle may have had a haunting sound that fit in with the action. I do remember the movie, and it was quite good.

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, September 1, 2012 7:32 PM

I was watching a rerun of "the Rockford Files" (James Garner) the other day and in a railyard scene a Dismal went past making the very distinctive chuffing sound of a steam locomotive and in the background I heard a steam whistle a couple of times.  The series was on from 1974 to 1980.

The "Foley" man was just not knowledgeable of the real world.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by aegrotatio on Saturday, September 1, 2012 8:01 PM
In "Rocky" we hear not only steam whistles but chuff-chuff-chuff sounds of a steam engine. Listen for it next time you see it. Doesn't really sound like a work shift change whistle but a train whistle.
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Posted by chatanuga on Sunday, September 2, 2012 11:10 AM

Semper Vaporo

I was watching a rerun of "the Rockford Files" (James Garner) the other day and in a railyard scene a Dismal went past making the very distinctive chuffing sound of a steam locomotive and in the background I heard a steam whistle a couple of times.  The series was on from 1974 to 1980.

The "Foley" man was just not knowledgeable of the real world.

Same thing happened in the second-to-last episode of Emergency! in the first season.  Station 51 was called to a part of a rail yard where tank cars were getting cleaned out.  Initially, they had the sound of a diesel horn on a train that was passing in the background, but later on in the rescue, you hear the distinct chugging of a steam locomotive starting up.

Kevin

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